by Tom Kratman
PFM-1—A small, lightweight, scatterable anti-personnel mine. Very politically incorrect. The PFM-1S is slightly more PC, since it has a roughly timed, and somewhat unreliable, self destruct feature.
POW—Prisoner of War. Sometimes EPW, for enemy prisoner of war.
PSP—Perforated Steel Planking. A material, the sections of which are designed to be hooked together, to form a temporary runway.
PSYOP—Psychological Operations. Think leaflets and loudspeakers, printers, presses, and propaganda.
PT—Physical training.
Push—When discussing radios, either the specific frequency being used or the coded sequence of frequency hops, if using frequency hopping.
Roger—Normally, when speaking over a radio, a term meaning, “I understand.” As a practical matter, military sorts use the expression all the time, in normal, face to face, conversation to convey the same meaning. A general affirmative, often heard in the form of “Roger that shit.”
RP—Received Pronunciation. An upper crust British accent, largely unknown in working class circles and increasingly rare even among the upper middle class.
RPG—Pocket Propelled Grenade or the launcher that fires one.
RPV—Remotely Piloted Vehicle, often called UAV, for unmanned aerial vehicle.
SAPI Plates—Bulletproof, more or less, usually ceramic, inserts that go in special pockets in body armor.
Schrecklichkeit—A German word meaning terror or frightfulness.
Searcher—An Israeli-built Remotely Piloted Vehicle
SITREP—Situation Report. If given over the radio, in the form of, “SITREP, over,” it means, “Tell me what the hell is going on, succinctly.”
Spec Ops/Special Operations—(Author’s definition) Typically small unit actions, the operational, strategic, propaganda, or geo-political importance of which, and the price of failure in which, are sufficiently high as to justify the early commitment and organization, of extraordinary human, financial, and material resources, and special training of the individuals and organizations concerned.
Strela—Any of a number of different models of Russian-made, shoulder launched, anti-aircraft missiles.
Tagalog—With English, an official language of the Philippines.
Thermal—Also “Thermal Imager.” A night or limited visibility vision device which, instead of amplifying ambient light, picks up differentials in heat.
Thermobaric—An explosive that takes its oxygen from the surrounding air. This not only gives more explosive power for a given weight, it tends to suffocate whoever the blast, heat, and lung-destroying post-explosion vacuum do not kill. FAE, Fuel Air Explosive, is a form of thermobaric.
Tore—Filipino for tower; in the case of rum, a tall round bottle.
Tranzi—Transnational Progressive(s). The shortened version is believes to have been coined by one David Carr, a lawyer in the United Kingdom. Think: UN and EU bureaucrats, do-gooders who do quite well for themselves, left wing academics, and very spoiled two and three year olds, never quite weaned from mother’s breasts.
Tzahal—The Israeli Army
Unass the AO—Move away from the area of operations. Similar to, “Get the Hell out of Dodge.”
Vampire—Also RPG-29. Also Vampir. A Russian-made, shoulder fired, anti tank weapon. It is arguable whether the Vampire is a rocket launcher or a recoilless smoothbore, since the propelling charge burns out completely while still in the tube. Very nice.
Vympel—A Russian special operations unit, under the FSB and charged with anti-terrorism and nuclear safety operations.
Whisper—Where a weapon is indicated, a rifle, generally suppressed, firing a large heavy bullet over a weak charge to drive it at less than the speed of sound. About as quiet as one can get, while still killing someone at a range of six hundred meters or more.
Wilco—When speaking over a radio, a term meaning, “I will comply.”
Zodiac—An inflatable boat.
Acknowledgements,
in no particular order:
Yolanda, who puts up with me, Toni Weisskopf, the late Jim Baen, John Ringo, Dr. Scott Joseph, Dr. Rob Hampson, Ken Uecker, Dr. Alfredo Figueredo, Mike Rollin, Neil Frandsen, Michael Gilson, Tim Arthur, Charlie Prael, Chris French, Ori Pomerantz, Leo Ross (RIP), Arun, Ron Friedman, Tom Wallis, Tim Lindell, John Raines, the Kriegsmarine contingent of the Bar (you know who you are), Buz Ozburn, David Burkhead, Alen Ostanek, Mike Sayer, Barry Lowe, Steve St. Onge, Dave Helma, Mark van Groll, Peter Gold, Sergeant Major (Ret.) Henrik Kiertzner, Doc (who’s in the Rockpile by now and doesn’t need the OPSEC issue), Ben-David Singleton, Dan Kemp, Wendy Stewart, Cpt Andrew Stocker, Mrs. Tootie Poulter, and the cover artist, the great Kurt Miller.
If I missed anybody, chalk it up to premature senility.